Election '99 is increasingly resembling a free for all in a mud pit. In a vitiated campaign, it is becoming difficult to tell fact from fiction and information from disinformation. With no issues to speak of, personal vilification tops the political agenda.

The politically correct and the faint-hearted need not attend. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me which, thanks to the censors, is now circumcised to Austin Powers 2, is the most delightfully funny and unashamedly vulgar film of the season.

"I am not going to tolerate such a lie ... I will sue her." - George Fernandes, defence minister, reacting to aiadmk chief J. Jayalalitha's charge that he was involved in "gun-running" and "drug-peddling" for the LTTE.

When he was Congress president, Sitaram Kesri's diet was restricted to soup and khichdi, thanks to a troubled digestive system. But after he was ousted, he underwent surgery and seems to have regained his appetite with a vengeance.

Think tobacco and you think of cigarettes. But try thinking of tobacco leaves churning out a human protein called gamma interferon - a life-saving drug that can boost the immune system and help treat cancers, asthma, genetic disorders and arthritis among others.

Women with fuller figures, mothers-to be and new mothers now have a clothing range designed exclusively for them. The Chrysalis collection offers casual and semi-formal separates in knits and lycra blends, crisp cottons, velvets and crepes.

Before this review goes further, it would like to make a point. Ignore Thai food reviews that say the food at a new eatery tastes as if from "an authentic mid-level Thai restaurant in downtown Bangkok".

When M.F. Hussain gave Anuradha Pal a brief for Gajagamini, he took the word literally. "You understand me and what I want," he said, and with that one sentence commissioned the 28-year-old tabla player to do the background score for his cinematic opus.

Security and EC guidelines have made Atal Bihari Vajpayee's campaign complicated. The security agencies have charted a route whereby he literally flies from state to state instead of covering one region at a stretch.